Nonfiction Matters

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There Must Be a Way Out of Here

Posted by Marc Aronson on February 8, 2010

That's a Bob Dylan Quotation, But Also My Sense of This Moment in Nonfiction

Here are the contrasting forces of this moment -- as they effect all of us in the nonfiction books for kids world.
1) some libraries are buying databases instead of books -- this is a financial decision, but also based on a concept of what non-fiction is: datapoints that are useful for assignments.
2) kids live in an intensely visual interactive digital world in which they expect to be able to learn by playing -- from Wii to DS to Playstation -- young people have a wonderland of experiences awaiting them (after they finish their homework).
3) All the publishing buzz is about ereaders -- IPads, Kindles, Vooks, etc. The internet is ablaze with stories of how print is dead due to these new readers.
4) Yet as I have learned from several people who are actually preparing t...Read More

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Delayed

Posted by Marc Aronson on February 5, 2010

Sorry to Be Posting Late -- I Am Doing Too Many Things at Once

I have the printed out pages of two books on my desk, was working on an Op-Ed, and have to plan for school visits next week -- and yet there is an interesting way in which all these parts fit together. One book was seriously delayed because there were so many rights to clear. The main obstruction was not even cost, it was just getting a response from the rights holders in order to create a budget. Another book is fine on permissions -- as a book -- but a teacher just asked me if he could offer it as a digital feed to a school, and then study how teachers use text in that form. I like the idea -- but dread the thought of going back to all of the image rights holders to clear a school site license perm -- if they even have a way to calcualte that. Then, as mentioned, I've been emailing with some of the students ...Read More

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Avatariana

Posted by Marc Aronson on February 2, 2010

What Does Avatar Have to Do With History?

I joined the mob at Avatar this past weekend. Like most people I was dazzled by the 3-D computer animation, the world that took shape on the screen. But I was struck by the profoundly false turn of the plot. I hope I am not ruining any weekend plans for you when I say that a key moment in the film comes when the people of the bow and arrow decide to take up arms against the people of iron and steel. In reality, that was a strategy that led to death for Native Americans -- it did somewhat better for the Zulu, though they too lost. And so the question comes, why is the most popular movie in history based around a fantasy of defeat for most of the movie-goers, with a hint of parallel possible defeat in our current conflict in Afghanistan?
Why is the story of,&n...Read More

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From David Aguilar -- and Open Invitation

Posted by Marc Aronson on February 1, 2010

Calling All Artists, Designers, Art Directors, Photographers Who Work with Non-Fiction

This post is David's response to Linda's question on how he creates his art. I would love to have more posts like this from any of you who are involved in the visual side of non-fiction -- from those who select typefaces to those who make maps, paintings, photographs. If you'd like to tell others about how you work, let me know.

HOW DO I CREATE MY ART?
I use a Mac computer and Photoshop as my pallet and brushes. I also make models out of plaster of Paris, clay or plastic. My spaceships, like the ones in my book "Planets, Stars & Galaxies" were made from pieces of junk plastic found around the house. Look closely at it and you may see printer cartridges, a laundry detergent plastic funnel, plastic plumbing parts and a few odds and ends sc...Read More

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Crosscurrents

Posted by Marc Aronson on January 29, 2010

Building Bridges to the Past
Yesterday SLJ put out an article on the BBYA story -- with some of my comments,
YALSA Axes Venerable BBYA List -- if you have not seen it. This same week, Apple revealed its Tablet -- one more step towards a day when we will be creating books illustrated with video, sound, and other multimedia extensions. And, as mentioned, I've been teaching online, working with young people all over the country. Everything is swirling about, changing. And yet I also spent part of the day yesterday meeting editors, agents, and publishers -- and find regular old books are being written, edited, and published. I began looking at Jim Murphy's fine new book The Truce with my 9-year-old last night -- which meant having to explain to him what World War I, and how it was different from World War II. When...Read More

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A Week Online

Posted by Marc Aronson on January 27, 2010

This Week I Am Teaching Two Classes Online

By coincidence, not design, I find that this week I am participating in a discussion of a book of mine with a 9th grade class online, while conducting a writing class for bright kids all around the country aged roughly 10-15 through another site. It is a fascinating experience -- a bit taxing, I must admit, for my writing life -- the buzz of responding to posts quickly takes over and it is very hard to go from that tennis match of thought and response to the more private, reflective, creative act of writing. But there are two significant trends that I see -- and which match my sense in visiting a live fourth grade classroom yesterday: on the one hand, when you go out into the real world, you meet kids where they are -- devout kids upset to have any questions come up about their faith; kids with not the slightest sense of history ...Read More

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Astronomy Is History

Posted by Marc Aronson on January 24, 2010

Thanks to David A. Aguilar For Changing My Life

At Midwinter I attended a couple of National Geographic events with David Aguilar, Director of Science Information at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and author/illustrator of books on space for young readers. As we sat at breakfast he said something that literally made me feel a sense of vertigo -- the world changed before my eyes. All of know that as we look at the sky we are seeing the past -- we've had the concept of light-years drilled into us, and have probably seen at least a few photos of some early phase of the universe whose light we can just capture. But David took that link of astronomy and history a huge step further.
David pointed out that we will surely never actually reach almost anything we see in space. In other words, no h...Read More

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Last Thoughts On the BBYA Issue

Posted by Marc Aronson on January 22, 2010

MK's Comments Have Helped Clarify The Issues

Thanks to MK for her (?) thoughts and comments, which have helped me to define exactly what is wrong with the new system.
1) Splitting up one committee into many means there will be no place where ideas cross-pollinate. Lets face it, that means that fiction lovers will be exempted from getting to know other genres -- until they get a list of authors and titles they do not know, have not shared with teenagers, and are free to ignore.

2) Right now, as Linda admits in her response, there is no public venue for discussion of NF at ALA, no list for libraries to use, no model. MK points out that very few NF titles came up in recent ALA teen session. The obvious conclusion is that it would not tax the committee to be open to NF and would not extend the list a great deal. In other words we have a loss now that wo...Read More

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My Response to Linda

Posted by Marc Aronson on January 21, 2010

I am willing to believe that the process was broken, and indeed that the board is to be commended for being willing to take bold steps to fix it. However the system you have created ignores one crucial function of the old BBYA, destroys another, and misses an obvious solution. .

1) the value of a Best list -- to the committee members, the audience at ALA, and those who received it -- was the very fact that it included a mix of genres. A librarian who knew little and cared less about, say, graphic novels when I published Pedro and Me, was exposed to it because it was discussed, shared, and then included on a general list of Best Books. For years fantasy was a secret pleasure of boy readers, disdained by many reviewers and librarians. BBYA was the one place where fantasy was discussed alongside the latest YA novel -- before

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Linda's Comments -- My Response Follows

Posted by Marc Aronson on January 21, 2010

This is Linda's second email to me, on the questions of public disucssion of NF with teen participation at ALA:

On the topic of discussions of non-fiction at Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference, while there will not be open discussion for the Nonfiction Award Committee at these events, providing face-to-face opportunities for members to discuss books was not a goal of the recent changes to YALSA's selected lists. Only about 15% of YALSA's members attend ALA conferences and fewer than that attend the BBYA sessions. While there always was some discussion about non-fiction during open BBYA meetings, it was never a large part of the conversation, including the conversations in which teens participated. (Over the past several years the BBYA list averaged 14 non-fiction titles per year.) Overall, the face-to-face sessions are a small part of the larger book sel...Read More

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Hold the Phone

Posted by Marc Aronson on January 20, 2010

I Forwarded My Questions (and Alison's on Popular Paperbacks) to the YALSA Board

and I have been promised that Linda Braun, the president, will respond within 24 hours. I am eager to see what she will have to say to all of us.

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